Don't Take Care, Take Risks

By Elaine Trimlett Glover

Having lost the love of my life and feeling my world had ended, I asked God, “Lord, is this all you have for my life?” and two weeks later, Canon Andrew White, the vicar of Baghdad, asked me to ring. I didn’t know him but I rang and he asked me if I had heard of Saddam Hussein and explained that the judge who sentenced him to death, minster of justice for Iraq, Mr Raouf was coming to Spires Hospital Southampton for an operation and God told him I was to host him and his family. I thought it was windup, but I was to find out it was true…and this began a journey and friendships that are still ongoing ten years later. Read the story and find out what happened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781398410817

Elaine Trimlett Glover

Elaine Trimlett Glover was born in Leicester, United Kingdom, in the 1960s. Influenced by her teachers, Mr Page and Geoff Parker, at Stonehill and Longslade school, English literature was her favourite subject. Elaine has many talents—journalism, writing and a love for adventure. In the early 1980s, Elaine lived in Belfast and was married to an RUC Officer, then after returning to England she became an antique dealer and furniture restorer. In 2005, she became a carer to her husband, Nigel, who passed away in 2010. Elaine left for Southampton and having a strong faith in Jesus she became a missionary in Baghdad, Iraq, and rural Kenya where she was responsible for infrastructure and girls’ education. In 2015, returning to UK, she almost died of Cerebral Malaria but she survived through prayer and faith in God. Married Adrian in Christchurch, Jerusalem, by Canon Andrew White on Passover and a Presenter of a local Christian Radio Station in Bournemouth and Presenter in a Community Radio in Swanage. She is also a Bishop of the Cross Denominational Mission plus Bishop of Makongeni Church, Kenya.

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Introduction

When seeking God, one of the most dangerous questions you can ask is, Is this all you have for my life? This is exactly what I did, as in 2010 my husband had just passed away, having had muscular dystrophy, and it seemed like my whole world had fallen apart and I felt half of me was missing. I had been Nigel’s carer 24/7 and at the same time we also were partners in a ministry for four years, called ‘Watering Hole’, where we shared the love of Jesus on a deprived estate. Watering Hole was an incentive of ‘Redeeming Our Communities’ led by Debra Green, where the church, local government, police and community engaged in prayer and action through various projects to lower crime through life transformation in Jesus Christ.

I could have continued with the project, but without Nigel, it was like tea without toast, or salt without pepper. Therefore, now that Nigel had gone to be with the Lord, I had decided to move down south to live near some Christian friends and hopefully have a fresh start.

Many people thought I had run away because of grief whilst others suggested that I was having a midlife crisis, however, God was restoring my foundations and healing me. Being a carer and a director of a project, I was exhausted and so the Lord was restoring me and filling my bucket as I had given so much of myself away to others. God also had a plan for my life, plans to prosper me, not to harm me but to give me a hope and a future.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29: Verse 11).

First of all, I moved to Hayling Island, Southampton, where I became a relief project worker in the Elderfield, Otterbourne, for Langley House Trust (LHT), which was a project that helped ex-offenders/offenders and people with various needs back into the community. It was in the grounds of the Elderfield that I would pray during my lunch break, as the garden was very beautiful and peaceful.

I remember feeling very low in myself and suicidal as I was still grieving for Nigel and the only answer was to seek the face of God concerning my future as everything seemed to be going pear-shaped. My rented accommodation was up for sale. Every time I applied for a full-time job with LHT, I wasn’t successful and my financial situation was getting out of control, especially running a car and having to pay bills as a single person.

Is this all you have for my life, Lord? I grumbled to God over and over and over again. Lord, I have got two jobs and working night and day, and everything is just not working out, Lord, please help me!

Two weeks later, Canon Andrew White, the famous Vicar of Baghdad, had been led by God to ring me and tell me that I was to host Mr Raouf and his family in the Spires hospital, Southampton, as he and his wife were both coming to England for an operation. Amazingly, Mr Raouf was the Minister of Justice in Iraq who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death for war crimes in Halabja.

At the same time, I was asked by Heaven on Earth Ministries in Homa Bay, Kenya, to come on mission and so as you can see, my prayer had been clearly answered by God in two weeks. God takes you to places you never thought you would go, meet people you never thought you would meet, and do things you never thought you would do, not in a million years.

This is why God is very unbelievable and miraculous in the way he answers our prayers as you simply couldn’t make it up as he does things that are totally out of the box.

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1: Verse 5)

God made you and designed you uniquely. He created your character, what you like and don’t like. He knows how to meet your desires and what you are good at. He knows everything about us and He also trains us through life experience for the race we run. God is a God who makes ways where there are no ways and his thoughts aren’t our thoughts and it’s a good thing that they aren’t.

God used my street preaching to make me into a preacher and teacher. He used my alcohol addiction as a backslider to lead alcoholics to the Lord. He used my caring skills to host the Iraqi Minister of Justice, and his family. He took my experience as a victim of domestic violence to help ASBO kids, single parents, addicts and those with mental health issues on a deprived estate, and he took my brokenness to give me a heart for the lost.

God had me doing some amazing things, like taking Mr Raouf’s daughter and niece to Hillsong Church in the Dominion Theatre, London. He gave me the boldness to travel on my own to Israel, Canada, Iraq, Baghdad and Kenya. God has used me to lead witchdoctors to Christ, minister to the president of Kenya, host funerals and stay with the Judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein, and his family. This is why I have written this book to show you that when you are in God’s will, you don’t need to be a leader, you don’t need to go to Bible school, you don’t need to be wealthy or have been to university; all you need is a willing heart, obedience, trust in the Lord and…

If God tells you to do something, do it! – Michael Pilavachi.

Don’t take care, take risks. – Canon Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad.

Chapter 1

"Is This All You Have

for My Life, Lord"

Browsing down my Facebook Messenger, I came across a request from Canon Andrew White, the notorious Vicar of Baghdad, to ring him. My first thoughts were, what does he want? I didn’t know him and I had only seen him once when he gave a lecture at Leicester University in 2009 where he spoke about his ministry in Baghdad and Iraq. During question time, I asked Andrew if he saw God’s healing and experienced answered prayers in his church, St George’s, Baghdad? Andrew’s reply was quite unforgettable because he spoke about how the Ayatollah (a Shiite leader), desperate to find a way to feed his starving people because of war, asked Andrew for money but Canon Andrew White only had $12 on him at the time. This didn’t deter the Iraqi Shiite leader who then asked the Vicar of Baghdad to pray for food because he knew that Andrew’s God answered prayers. That night as Andrew finished reading the book of Common Prayer, he suddenly remembered the Ayatollahs request and simply prayed FOOD!

The following day as Andrew sat having his breakfast in a hotel, an American high-ranked officer came over asking if he could do anything with 145 tons of meat, in refrigerated articulated lorries, as the US troops had no need for it! God obviously had heard Andrew’s prayer for meat and then got to work at not only providing the much-needed food but also he provided a means to keep it fresh and be able to deliver it. The Vicar of Baghdad sat there in amazement at such an offer, then as bells began to ring and the penny dropped, he said, YES! He knew exactly what to do with it. This was a miraculous answer to prayer which would not only feed the hungry Iraqi people who were starving but was also an amazing testimony for the Ayatollah.

Andrew also spoke about how eleven Muslim men had become Christians and despite knowing the risk of being murdered by their own families if they discovered about their new faith in Yeshua, they wanted to be baptised. A week later, only two of the eleven men were still alive as the other nine men had been murdered by their Muslim families. According to Muslim belief, Isa (Jesus), was just a prophet and not the Son of God and that Mohammed is THE prophet.

From hearing these incredible testimonies, I knew that Canon Andrew White was a special man of God whose faith was outstanding and had been a huge encouragement to me, this was also why I was so intrigued to find out why he wanted to talk to me and what it was about, and so I rang him.

Hello, Canon Andrew White, you asked me to phone you. It’s Elaine from Facebook.

Oh yes, Canon Andrew White here. Have you heard of Saddam Hussein?

Yes, I replied. I never in a million years expected him to ask if I had heard of Saddam Hussein and wondered if indeed Andrew was winding me up? Have you ever seen the judge who sentenced Saddam to death on the television?

Yes, I have, I said, wondering what he was going to ask next.

Andrew then began to explain how he himself as a chaplain for the American Embassy in Baghdad had sat in the courtroom during Saddam’s trial and the judge, Mr Raouf, had asked the Vicar of Baghdad if he could borrow his green ink pen to sign the official paper and, unknowingly, he let the Minister of Justice borrow his pen, not realising it was going to be used to sign Saddam’s death warrant.

A few months after the trial when Saddam had been executed, the Iraqi Minister of Justice, Mr Raouf, rang Andrew to ask him for another favour. Canon Andrew White explained, Mr Raouf knew that if anybody wanted anything done in Iraq, Abuna (Abuna is the term the children called Canon Andrew which means ‘Father’ especially in the Middle East Church Community) Andrew could do it. The Judge explained that he needed major surgery on his cervical vertebrae as he had spinal stenosis and his wife had a major break in her foot that wouldn’t heal and they wanted me to find a surgeon who could do both operations and at the same time, could speak Aramaic.

As Andrew used to be a ‘gas man’, an anaesthetist in St Thomas’s Hospital, London, in his younger years, he therefore asked some of his contacts if there was a Kurdish surgeon who could not only operate on Mr and Mrs Raouf but who could speak in Aramaic language. He discovered that only three hospitals in the world had a consultant with these requirements and miraculously one of these men, Mr Ali, worked for the Spires